France launches mass duck cull to stem bird flu spread In the Gers, the area in France which has been the most affected by avian flu, the Pujos family is compelled to send its 32.000 to the slaughterhouse. Authorities in southwest France began a cull of hundreds of thousands of ducks January 5 as the government scrambles to contain an outbreak of a virulent strain of bird flu sweeping Europe. IMAGES of the farm's last ducks leaving for the slaughterhouse (UPCOMING SOUNDBITES)